This is the conversation we just had:

Cole: Mom, are aliens real?
Me: I don't know. I think so.
Emma: Does Daddy know if aliens are real?
Me: No, Daddy doesn't know. No one knows for sure if aliens are real.
Cole: Can you look it up on Google?
Me: Google doesn't know if aliens are real.
Emma: WHAT?!?!?!?! Google knows EVERYTHING!
Cole: If Google doesn't know, then NO ONE knows!

I just spent $110 on five diapers. They're REALLY cute though!







Oddly enough, I didn't mean to buy the third and fourth ones pictured. I thought I had removed them from my cart and replaced them with two other ones. I guess I didn't though. Oops.There were almost 300 people on this website when the diapers were stocked!!!! I had to act as quickly as possible to get the ones I got. In fact, I had something else in my cart that I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted, but apparently someone else wanted it as well. By the time I finished checking out, it was gone. BooHoo. :( This is what it was:

It's a wool interlock cover. My goodness I wanted that thing BADLY!

I told you it was an illness. lol

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but in case I haven't, we use cloth diapers. (well, not WE...I don't, but my kids that are in diapers do) So anyways, Allie is outgrowing the small diapers (the little chunky monkey that she is :D ) so I need to go buy larger diapers. They're fairly expensive new, so I try to buy them used, if possible. (They get washed...get over it!) So, anyways, I went to Diaper Swappers, which is where most people go to buy and sell used cloth diapers and started looking through their "For Sale or Trade" section. People are CRAZY when it comes to cloth diapers. I swear, if you don't email the person within MINUTES of them putting up what they have to sell, you miss out.

Now, here's the part that gets me...some people pay up to $200 for a single diaper! Come on people, your kid POOPS in these things! Yes, they're cute. Yes, they're soft. Yes, they're apbsorbant, but $200?!?!??!?! Granted, that's not the norm. They usually cost between $10-$30 for a used diaper.

The worst part of it all is that I have the desire...nay, the NEED...to buy these cute diapers. I have no idea how well they'll work, but I NEED them because they're adorable. I NEED to spend $30 on something that some OTHER kid has pooped in so that my child can poop in it. I NEED to sit at my computer stalking these online stores, just waiting for them to stock new diapers so I can buy them before some other insane diaper crazy lady beats me to it. *Refresh* *Refresh* *Refresh* YES....A NEW DIAPER HAS BEEN STOCKED!!! *Clicks on "purchase" button* DANG IT...SOMEONE ALREADY BOUGHT IT!!!!!! *Refresh* *Refresh* *Refresh* It's an illness.

So, it's 11:53 pm on a Sunday night. Where is my husband? Why, the same place he's been until all hours of the morning/night almost every night for the past couple of weeks...at work. I swear I'm going to buy him a little futon to set up in his cubicle. Then he wouldn't even have to come home. He could just work until he fell asleep, wake up and work some more. That seems to be his intent lately anyways. :( He has a deadline looming (or it may have already passed...I'm not quite sure. He hasn't been around enough lately for me to ask him) so I understand that he needs to work until he gets it done, but that doesn't make me miss him any less. :( The other day he told me, "Now I understand why marriages don't last when one of them works this many hours." Ummmm...yeah.

I really shouldn't be complaining. My sister and sister in law both live with their husband's being away five days a week. I don't think I could do it. Or perhaps I could...it was kind of nice when Drake was traveling a lot for business. lol He'd be gone a week or two, then be home for a couple of days before leaving again. Those few days he was home were SO nice! He was SO happy to be home that the whole house just functioned better. He was the "fun" dad and there was no stress or unhappiness at all for those two to three days! With the insane hours he's been working lately though, he's so tired that when he's home and the kids are awake, he's just constantly yelling and in a bad mood. He had the "day off" on Friday (meaning he didn't go into work until about noon) and he spent the whole time we were both home complaining and being pissed off because I couldn't cuddle on the couch with him the whole time. He couldn't seem to understand that his thirty minutes of downtime didn't mean that I could have thirty minutes of downtime at the exact same time. I had lunches to make, a baby to nurse, fights to break up, kids to take care of. It wasn't that I didn't want to spend time with him. It was that in those thirty minutes, I just couldn't. I sat with him for as long as I could, but the family's whole life can't just stop because he decides to be home for thirty minutes.

When he comes home at night/in the morning, he's so tired that he just falls asleep, then wakes up a few hours later, goes back to work and starts it all over again. He actually did stay home yesterday. We took the kids to tae kwon do, then he was supposed to take the kids swimming. He promised the kids a "super fun day," and he promptly fell asleep after getting home from tae kwon do. This left me to deal with kids who are stuck at home, disappointed because yet again they don't get to spend time with their dad, and being yelled at because he's trying to sleep on the couch and they're being...well, they're being kids and talking/laughing/screaming, etc. Here they were expecting to spend some quality time with him and have a "super fun day," and instead, they just got an even more upset than usual dad who they felt would rather sleep than spend the very little time that he was actually home, with them. To his credit, he did eventually wake up and take them swimming for a couple of hours. They LOVED it. He even stayed up late to spend some time with me after the kids went to bed. Unfortunately, after a long day of rowdier than normal kids and a baby who kept me up much of the night before, I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. If our marriage survives this, it will be stronger because of it.

My incredible GIFTED two year old learned a fun new game today! She picks her nose, then chases her siblings all over the house, threatening to wipe her boogers on them.

A refrigerator and pantry full of nutritious, yummy food! We went shopping for the week yesterday. Since then, I've stood in front of the refrigerator, just looking at it's contents at least three times. Yes, I'm strange. lol It just makes me happy to be able to provide delicious, nutritious food for my kids. I also like to sit down and read the ingredients on different items. For instance (so you can have a small glimpse of my happiness lol) the raisin bread we bought:

organic sprouted whole grain wheat
filtered water
organic raisins
organic sprouted whole grain barley
organic whole grain millet
organic malted barley
sprouted whole lentils
organic sprouted whole soybeans
organic sprouted whole grain spelt
fresh yeast
sea salt
organic cinnamon

It makes me happy to know that I'm putting such good things into my kid's bodies. Food is one of the things that I provide for them that has the biggest impact on their lives. It makes me feel good to know that my good choices not only directly influence their bodies now, but influence the choices they will make in the future. If a child is used to eating healthy foods, there's a good chance they will continue that way of eating later in life.

I also bought a TON of Lara bars for their lunches. I know I've mentioned them before, but they're totally worth a second mention. lol These things are SO good! The girls LOVE the cherry pie version.

While I'm talking about bars that are good for you, let me HIGHLY recommend the Greens+ Natural Energy Bar. Heres the ingredient list:

Organic dates
organic almond butter
organic quinoa sprout powder
gmo-free soy protein isolate
original Greens+ powder ( gmo-free soy lecithin, Hawaiian Spirulina, organic apple fiber, organic barley grass, organic wheat grass, Japanese chlorella, hydroponic soy sprouts, organic brown rice bran, sprouted barley malt, alfalfa grass, royal jelly, montana bee powder, acerola berry juice, natural vitamin E, licorice root powder, milk thistle seed extract, echinacea root extract, Siberian eleuthero root extract, astragalus root extract, licorice root extract, organic red beet juice, dunaliella salina algae, organic Nova Scotia Dulse, organic ginkgo biloba leaf extract, organic Japanese green tea extract, grape seed and skin exract, organic Swedish bilberry extract)
organic brown rice crisps
organic honey
natural mixed tocopherols (Vitamin E)

Okay, so you're probably looking at that list of ingredients and thinking. "Ewwwwww," but I PROMISE it's YUMMY! Just don't look at it before you eat it. It's an ugly, unappetizing, greenish brown color. lol

I usually use sprouts on the sandwiches I make Drake for lunch, but I bought some organic micro greens and they are SO good! I definitely think I'll be going with the micro greens from now on.

Oh, and the BEST FIND OF ALL yesterday...the salad I've been looking for for YEARS!!!! It's a spinach salad with cranberries, candied pecans and a raspberry vinegerette. Oh my goodness, it is TO DIE FOR! YUM! I first had it at a wedding shower a few years back. I haven't been able to find it anywhere...until yesterday! I rarely purchase things premade, but I did splurge and purchase the premade salad...and I don't feel a bit guilty about it! lol

So, now my fridge is once again full of yummy deliciousness...pineapple, cucumbers, kale, spinach, salad, bread (you have to refrigerate the raisin bread because it has no preservatives) oranges, mangoes, kiwi, plums, apricots, nectarines, peaches, apples, organic milk, micro greens, hummus (to go on the nan and whole wheat pita bread I bought) cabbage, green onions, green bell peppers, red bell peppers...whew...you name it, we've pretty much got it. LOL Oh, and let me tell you how proud I am of my children. (This goes along with the "if you feed them good food, they'll make good choices on their own" thought) I told the kids they could pick their own cereal. Each of them got to pick one. Did they go for the Fruity Pebbles? The Fruit Loops? The Lucky Charms? Nope! Caitlin picked out Kashi Strawbery Fields. Emma picked out Kashi Go Lean Crunch. Cole picked out Cranberry Almond Clusters, and they're all eating them and loving them!

Anyways, yes, I realize I'm a bit strange, but hey, there are worse things that could make me happy, right?

Since that last post was so long, I feel the need to make a short and sweet post. So, I'm stealing a survey from Sean.

What is your favorite color? grey and azure

What is your favorite food? sushi...yum. Did I mention Yum?? Oh my goodness...YUM!

Do you have any pets? Not anymore. We're planning on getting a dog when we have a place of our own though.

If you could be any where right now where would you be? I wouldn't mind being on a cruise with Tracey.

What's a wild thing you have done? Bungee jumped. I'm so boring.

Do you have a nickname? Mom

What's a pet peeve of yours? BYU-Idaho Honor Code (AMEN, Sean! LOL) No really though, I can't stand people lying to me. Oh, and when my kids smear their poopy diapers all over the place...yeah, I'm not too fond of that either.

What's the name of your bff? Drake. (I'm such a sappy dork)

What's your favorite song? Bitch by Meredith Brooks

What's one of your talents? I'm pretty good at making babies

What's a long term goal of yours? Travel...most specifically, Greece, Venice and NYC

What's your favorite movie? Untamed Heart and Mad Love

What type of car do you drive? Honda Odyssey...it's so cool, the back doors open by remote. Awesome!

Have you ever been in love? yes

What's something your would like to do more of? vacation

What's something you would like to learn? Japanese

What's one thing you look for in someone you want to date? someone who doesn't mind that I have a husband

What is something you are good at? loyalty

What is something you are bad at? cleaning

What's your favorite book? I don't have one

What is one thing you have accomplished that you are proud of? I have these six amazing little creatures that call me Mom. That's pretty cool.

What is something you hold dear to you? My family

What's your favorite past time? reading

Would you rather be hot or cold? cold

What's your lucky number? I don't have one. I like the number 13 though. I was born on Friday the 13th.

So as not to scare off any people who don't have children now and make them think the NEVER want to have kids, I thought I'd post a few things that make me laugh.

From September 19, 2005:
So, I finally had a moment of peace and quiet. Ethan and Sera were in bed, the older girls were at school and Cole was in his room watching television. So, I decided to do some dishes. Cole came downstairs and said, "Ethan was wearing your glasses." So, I go upstairs to put him back to bed and this is what I found:


The mess:








The culprit:

Yes folks, he not only took the sheet off of his bed, but he BROKE the bed and poured an entire LARGE container of formula on it and on himself. I think he must have been rolling in it. It is interesting to note that Cole thought the worst thing...the one worth telling me about...was that Ethan was wearing my glasses. Sigh...just when I think I start understanding how their minds work.



Okay, so that's something that I laugh about now. It wasn't so funny at the time.



I enjoy taking pictures of things that make me SO mad at the moment with the idea that I will laugh about it someday. Here's another one.


Ethan got fingerpaints for Christmas. They were stored in my bedroom closet. He was supposed to be taking a nap in his room...

"Uh oh...I'm in big trouble."


*thinks to himself "Maybe I can play it off."* "Hmmmm...that's strange...how did that get there?"


"Sweet...Moms taking pictures. She must not be mad! That was fun!"


"What do you mean you're throwing the paint away?"


Okay, so the first and last picture are the same, but I didn't get one of him crying when I threw the stuff away.


As you can see, Ethan was the one who got/gets into everything. It was an interesting couple of years until he figure out he shouldn't do that. If it could be poured out, it was poured out. If it could be smeared, it was smeared. If it could be broken, it was broken.

I'm bummed...I can't find the pictures of when Caitlin cut Emma's hair. That was a fun day! Heidi (my sister) had to basically give Emma a pixie cut to correct the mess that Caitlin left on Emma's head. She still had bald spots that we had to color in with eyeliner. LOL

Yep, I can laugh about them now. I'm glad I took the pictures.





As an update to my previous post, Caitlin and I sat down and talked abut the things that she was feeling, how her letter made me feel and what we could both do to make things better in our home. I've agreed to be better about saying please and thank you when I ask her to do things she's not normally expected to do, and she's agreed to do the things she's expected to do, without me telling her to do them and if I have to remind her, she'll just do them without complaint. We both agreed that a later bedtime wasn't a good idea. We've decided to start back up the family journal that we used to have going. It's a notebook that all of us can write in and read each day. If we're having problems, we can write them in the journal. It's a way to keep the lines of communication open even if we don't feel like sitting down and talking about it. I'm hoping this will continue even as the girls get older and they feel they can write about the issues they're having in life even if they're uncomfortable talking to me about them. I figure that eventually each child will start keeping their own journal that we can write back and forth in so their siblings don't read what the others are writing.

I know that as a teenager, I had things I would have liked to talk to my mom about, but I was uncomfortable bringing them up. I could never figure out the proper time or setting to say, "Hey Mom, I had a huge fight with one of my friends. How should I go about apologizing even though I don't think I was wrong?" or, "Mom, my friend's dad beats her up and does horrible things to her. She's asked me not to tell anyone, but I really think something needs to be done about it," or, "My boyfriend broke up with me for another girl. I feel completely lost, used, and heartbroken. What did I do wrong?" I can remember the times that I did sit down with my mom and tell her about things going on in my life and lo and behold, she actually had really good advice. LOL I can remember one time in specific where I was feeling really down. At this point in time, I was really big on inspirational quotes and poems. I had them hanging all over my room. I don't remember which guy had broken up with me (as I'm sure that was the case...I swear all my teenage drama revolved around guys!) but I had talked to my mom about how rejected I was feeling and how ugly I felt and how unhappy I was. The next morning, I had a new poem hanging on my wall. My mom had put it there while I was sleeping. It read:

"After a while you learn the subtle difference
between holding a hand and chaining a soul.
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
and company isn't security.
(Kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises.)

After awhile you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes open,
with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain
and the inevitable has a way of crumbling in mid-flight.

After a while you learn that even sunshine burns
if you stand too long in one place.

So, you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone else to bring you flowers.
And you learn you really can endure,
that you really do have worth.
And with every goodbye, you learn.

She got me up early that morning, gave me some expensive shampoo and conditioner and told me to take my time getting ready...to do my hair and makeup rather than just throwing it up in a ponytail (which I had been doing since I was feeling so down) and to be ready to face the day with my head up and feeling good about myself. She told me that when you take the time to look good on the outside, you can't help but feel better on the inside. When I was done getting ready, she sat down with me and told me that she wanted me to stop looking in the mirror and start looking out the window. She challenged me to focus on making others happy, rather than focus on how unhappy I was and she promised me that if I did that, that I would find happiness with myself. She couldn't have been more right. That day, I went out and focused on how I could make my friends happy and turning their happiness into my own. I came home that day with such a different outlook on life. To this day, when I'm unhappy and feeling down, I remember what my mom told me and get up, get dressed, take the time to make myself look nice and go out and find ways to make other people happy.

Anyways, now that I've gone off on a tangent, I'll get back to what I was originally posting about. I told Caitlin that I was really glad that she felt like she could express her feelings to me and that I hoped she always felt like she could talk to me about anything she was feeling or going through in life and that letter writing, or writing in the family journal was a wonderful way to talk to me about things she wasn't comfortable actually talking to me about. One of the things I want the most when my girls are teenagers are for them to feel comfortable talking to me about their lives. I want to know what's going on, even if they think I won't approve. I don't want my girls to be like I was...always hiding things from my parents because I didn't want to disappoint them, or feeling like my parents had no business knowing my business. All that did was hurt both my parents and me. I wish I had been more open with my parents. It turns out they actually did know what they were talking about and really did want the best for me. ;)

You know, there are times when I look at my kids and all of the wonderful things they do and have accomplished and I'm so "well pleased." I have heard SO many times, "Your kids are SO well behaved!" and "Wow, if I didn't see them, I would have NEVER known there were so many kids here!" and "I don't know how you do it...I can barely control my two and you have SIX and they're just angels!" I love those comments. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right. *breathes on and shines her perfect mommy badge*

Then, there are times like tonight where I wondered where I went wrong. Caitlin is very...ummm...how do I put this...strong willed. She can be SUCH a good kid. There are times when she makes me SO happy. However, OH MY GOSH...that child makes me want to tear my hair out more than anyone else! I don't know how I raised such a rude, disrespectful, angry child. Is it because she was my first and I've learned as I've gone along? Is it just her personality? WHAT IS IT?!??!?! I want to know so none of my other kids act the way she does at times! I'm SO grateful she seems to save it all for home though. All I ever hear from her teachers is how wonderful she is and how helpful she is and how well she gets along with other kids.

Anyways, so what brings this up? I asked Caitlin two days ago to take a shower. She didn't do it. I asked her yesterday to take a shower. She didn't do it. I asked her to wake up early this morning and take a shower before school. She didn't do it. So, tonight I TOLD her to take a shower. She told me she didn't want to...that she wanted to spend time with Drake since he was home and she feels like she barely gets to see him. I told her she HAD to take a shower. How did she respond? She screamed at me that I was being unfair. She stomped up the stairs and yelled that her life sucks. She screamed that everyone hates her and that she wishes she wasn't a part of our family. I told her that I didn't want to hear it and that instead of shower, she had to go to bed.

I came upstairs to put the rest of the kids to bed and found a letter on Caitlin's door. This is what it said:

Date: August 3, 2007
Today: Saturday
Subject: Parents
Slogen: Hard Work
Feeling: Mad

I hate you Katie and Drake!! I wish if you said please and thank you. Let's make new rule of anytime you ask someone to do something say please and thank you! Yes or No (Circle)
I think it's not fair that when it's a stressful day that I or any other kids have to take a shower at night! After school when webarely ever get to see you! Plus we think we're getting to be big kids and be able to go to bed until 9:45 or 9:33. Last but not least the things we get we would like to use them. For an example Emma and me got the Techno Robot sometimes we clear off the table so we can do it and you say no not today then you never even open it.
Thank you.

So, she's obviously mad because I didn't say "please" when I told her to go take a shower. I would have said please if I was asking her to take a shower. I wasn't. I was telling her to. This Techno Robot thing she's talking about is something my MIL bought them when they were in Hawaii. It has a ton of little pieces and it's something that needs a lot of parental supervision and needs Sera to be in bed before they can do it because she'll get into it and scatter it everywhere. She's right in that it's been a while (almost two weeks) since they got it and I haven't sat down with them to help them. There just hasn't been a good time. I've explained this to her.

'm trying to understand that she is just trying to voice her frustrations and talk to me about the things that are bothering her, which I want to encourage. I want her to feel like she can talk to me about things that are bothering her so we can come up with a solution that works for everyone involved. Drake and I have always told her that if she feels that we are being unfair about something or if she feels like something isn't working in our family, that she needs to tell us and we'll talk about things and figure out what needs to be changed, or we'll try to explain to her why things are the way they are and why they won't be changing.

However, when she writes me this hostile letter, it's difficult to be understanding. Personally, I'd like to just ground her for the rest of the school year and show her how I can really make her life "suck." (She KNOWS how much I hate that word!!!!) The letter wouldn't have bothered me all that much if it hadn't started with "I hate you Katie and Drake!!"

I want to come up with a way to talk to her about things, explain why things are the way they are and talk about what things we can both work on without her thinking that her letter was an acceptable way of communicating her frustration with me. I don't want her to think that what she did is a good way of getting the results she's looking for. However, I do want to encourage her to let me know what's bothering her and I want her to realize that I think her feelings are valid and worth talking about. I just don't know where the happy medium is.

I'm thinking I'll just leave a note for her telling her that I understand that she is upset, but some of the things she wrote were completely unacceptable and when she's ready to apologize and talk with me calmly and nicely about things, I'll be here to talk to her.

Caitlin has always been my "difficult" child. She just doesn't seem to have that "This probably isn't a good idea" filter. I've talked to her SO many times, asking her, "WHY did you do that?" She honestly doesn't seem to know. She says that her brain tells her to do something and she just does it. I ask her if she knows it's wrong. She says she does, but she doesn't think about it being wrong before she does it. She also doesn't seem to have that "I shouldn't be saying this" filter, either. Every thought that enters her head comes out of her mouth. Argh...it's all just so frustrating.

There are times that I really question my decision to be a mom when it comes to her. Did I bring about this behavior? Was it the way I raised her? Did I create this in her? Shouldn't I be able to mold and shape her behavior and personality? Shouldn't I be able to teach her what is acceptable and not acceptable and actually have her listen and do it? If I can't raise her in the way that she should go and to be the kind of person she should be, should I even be a mom? Am I potentially ruining her life? I'm responsible for the way she turns out. This is a HUGE responsibility. Am I screwing it up? Is she going to grow up and think that I was a terrible mom and that her life is harder than it had to be because I was her mom? I want to be a good mom. No, I take that back...I want to be a GREAT mom. I want my kids to think as highly of me as my siblings and me think of our mom. I don't know what I'm doing. I feel so incredibly inadequate. There are times that I think I'm doing so poorly at this whole mom thing that I just want to sit and cry and apologize to my children that they are stuck with me. Time to hand back that shiny perfect Mommy badge.

I do feel the need to balance out this post with some wonderful things about Caitlin. She truly is an amazing person. Her teacher gave the parents a homework assignment. It was to write a letter about our child. She wanted to know their areas of strength, areas of weakness, special things about them, etc. This is what I wrote:

Mrs. Szentesi,

Caitlin Silva is my daughter. She is my eldest and such a joy in my life. Caitlin is one of six children, and as the eldest has had to accept many responsibilities that I think few children of her age have had to take on. She consistently amazes me with the things she is capable of doing. She is always quick to help and usually does so without complaint. She is someone that you know you can count on to help you out, even if she would rather not, because it makes her happy to help others and because she feels it’s the right thing to do.

One of the qualities that I admire the most in Caitlin is her ability to speak her mind. While at times, as a mother, I find this incredibly frustrating, it pleases me to no end that she is confident enough in herself and her thoughts to say the things she is thinking and feeling. There are times that she says things that would be better off kept to herself and times when she can come off as disrespectful when she disagrees with you and lets you know it, but, for the most part, she has discovered how to voice her opinion without being overbearing and can do so with tact.

Socially, Caitlin is very adaptable. She can take on a leadership role if that is the position she feels she needs to fill, but is also able to step back and let others lead if she feels that will be more beneficial. She isn’t one, however, to stand back and let others lead in a way that she feels they shouldn’t be. Last year, she was involved in a “dance club” with some of her friends at recess time. The leaders of the club would teach the club members new dance moves each time they met together. One day, they taught the club moves that Caitlin felt were inappropriate for children to be doing. She spoke up and told them that she felt the moves were inappropriate and that she didn’t want to do them. They told her that if she didn’t, she wasn’t welcome in their club anymore. While she realized she could possibly lose friends, she still chose to leave the club rather than do something she felt she shouldn’t be doing. She came home in tears over the loss of her friends, but confident in her decision.

Caitlin is a very easy going person and is flexible and open to change. She embraces new experiences and is excited to learn new things. However, if she finds something difficult, she would rather ignore it than work her way through it. For example, last year she was supposed to memorize her multiplication facts. This didn’t come easy to her, so she just gave up and chose to not work on it. I think that most things come rather easily to her, so she hasn’t learned how to respond to things that are difficult for her. We have been working on this at home and plan to continue doing so.

My hope for Caitlin this year is that she will learn how to learn. I think this is something she really needs to want to do for herself for it to come about. I would like her to want to learn the things that are difficult for her and for her to strive to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with learning them, rather than getting discouraged and choosing to not work on them at all because it’s the easy thing to do.

My goal for myself this year is to be more actively involved in Caitlin’s schooling. I think that I often take for granted the fact that she is so independent and capable of doing almost everything that is asked of her and that makes it easy for me to let her do everything on her own…from homework, to remembering important dates and events. I often put more on her than she should be expected to take on and I need to actively remember that, while she’s an amazing child, she’s still a child that needs her mom to help keep her organized and to make sure she stays on track. I can’t let my being busy with the other kids be an excuse not to take the time to sit down with Caitlin each day and make sure we both know everything that is going on.

I hope that you enjoy having Caitlin in your class as much as I enjoy having her at home. She truly is a special child with some amazing and admirable qualities.

Sincerely,

Katie Silva

Want to see the most beautiful little five week old? You know you do!


There she is! I can't believe she's already five weeks old! She's gotten SO much bigger in the last few weeks. It's absolutely amazing to watch them grow. She's smiling now, which absolutely melts my heart. She has me wrapped around her adorable tiny little finger. I'm so in love.